This extraordinary and monumental gilt bronze sculpture was specially commissioned to the Bronzes Bruxelles for an important public or private collection. Designed after the celebrated Parisian sculptor Mathurin Moreau and signed this striking work takes the form of a beautiful young maiden clad in classical robes holding a sheaf of wheat in one hand and gracefully feeding a bird aloft her left shoulder. Her right hand extended downdwards holding a bundle of wheat while she sits on a pedestal. The figure stands on a canted stepped gilt bronze and mottled red marble base with two rounded feet at the sides and rosettes on the marble. Two triangular shaped feet both back and front further adds to its beauty. Additional little squares of gilt bronze adorns the marble base.
The work displays a remarkable level of detail considering its bronze casting. Bearing the signature Moreau Math and inscribed Cie des Bronzes Bruxelles
Due to its large size and subject matter, the remarkable work would most probably have been exhibited in a public or private exhibition.
Mathurin Moreau (1822-1912) is one of the most important French sculptors of the 19th century, born in a family of artists : his father Jean-Baptiste Moreau, as well as his brothers Hippolyte and Auguste are sculptors as well. Aged 21 in 1842, he won the second Prize of Rome, and began exhibiting at the Salon in 1848. Noticed on this occasion, he worked the following year for the great Val d'Osne Foundry .
His sculptures quickly became public monuments. With the Val d'Osne, Moreau presents a large fountain at the World’s Fair of 1855, which won a Gold Medal and seduced the city of Bordeaux. Thus, in 1857, it adorned the alleys of Tourny, and took the name of “Fountain of Tourny”. This impressive fountain today decorates the forecourt of the Quebec Parliament. In 1855, Queen Victoria also received as a gift the four-season statues of Mathurin Moreau, which still adorn the garden of Osborne House.
From his collaboration with the Val d'Osne until 1879, remarkable models of fountains, garden statues, candelabras, lampposts, etc. will emerge. His models adorn public space throughout France, as well as in Geneva, Liverpool, Peru and Buenos Aires.
The success of the Fountain of Tourny propelled him to the forefront of the national decorative arts scene, which led him to work with the goldsmith Christofle. Beautiful pieces of this collaboration, like the vase "The Education of Achilles" of 1867, are preserved in the Orsay Museum. Mathurin Moreau continues to win prizes at the Salons of 1859, 1861 and 1863, as well as at the World’s Fairs of 1867, 1878 and 1889.
Height : 33 inches